Greatly Exaggerated Rumors of Demise in the Publishing Industry

Top publishing execs, editors and media folk recently got together at the Wharton School of Business Future of Publishing conference in New York. Despite the industry’s doomsday scenario—publishers were already in financial trouble before the recession—“everybody wants to get into it,” said Atria’s Judith Curr. And it seems that was the point on which everyone agreed.

Technology was a major topic of conversation, of course. Publishing success from now on may be determined not by the random bestseller but by a publisher’s ability to market a book to specific, niche audiences. Digital tools that permit increasingly personalized delivery (think Kindle, iPad and beyond) will be the media. Some 30 new tablet readers are expected to come to market in the next few years.

One editor, who left the industry to get a business degree (and perspective) at Wharton, said in one discussion that the publishing industry was “a device away” from a major tipping point.

The end of books? That’s beside the point. The “end” of books, bound and printed, doesn’t have to come before a new way of reading takes hold—and possibly saves the publishing industry. Kindle owners, for example, buy 37 percent of their books in digital form. Which goes to show, coexistence is cool.

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